Cam Cleats

Hi All,

After quite a bit of work on my Seahawk I have finally got around to fitting the rigging back on her. However as usual i have come across problems. (I should name my yacht 'problems' haha)

Originally when removing all the fittings, i took pictures so i would know where to put it back. (I'm no sailor, I have bought her to learn on. I'm not very sure on what goes where)  Well I ended up losing this pictures as the camera got wet.

The main issue i have is where to place the cam cleats? Where would they best be located for ease of use? I'm sure before they were placed on the edge of the cabin roof as it comes down to the cockpit and another pair very close to the side rails. I'm not entirely sure that i even need two pairs of cam cleats?

Also I have two pairs of shrouds rather than utilizing the single shroud on each side, will this cause me any problems??

Hi Mark,

First:
I've moved your post to the "Help Desk" section of the forum as this doesn't rate as a mere "bar of the club house" topic!

I've searched through all your posts but not found any indication of the age or builder of your boat. However, you should look at:
http://www.seahawk17.org.uk/description/rigging.htm#jibsheets
which has photos of both Reedcraft and Moores boats showing where their cleats were fitted when the boats were new. (Having said that, you'll see that I believe that Moore's arrangements is poor and others agree.

On shrouds...  You should have two lines on each side of the mast. one coming from the near the top and passing through the tip of the spreader. The second coming from the mast level with the spreaders. Both should descend to the chainplate aft of the cabin window.

Are you saying your boat looks like this, with an extra chainplate?


If so, then yours is only the second I am aware of - and that should give you a pretty clear indication that the forward plate is unnecessary.

I can only imagine that the owner who installed this modification did so without being aware how light a SeaHawk mast is and how a person of average height can stand on the cabin threshold and reach forward and up to ensure that it can be lowered safely as they pay out a line attached to the forestay.

(On larger boats it may be necessary, to winch down a mast and an extra pair of line a pair of lines, or steel A-Frame is needed to hold it on the centre line of the boat.)

Thanks for the reply greg,

The second chainplate is only approx 2 inches forward of the rear chainplate. As you said i assume this is an adapttion from a previous owner. I don't think this will cause me problems so i will leave the chainplate in place and use this, would you agree?

With the placed fairleads and cleats from the pictures it appears mine is a pyecraft seahawk. Thanks for the link, I did have a look through the site but couldn't find that particular page.

Thanks Again

Hi Mark,

mjseahawk wrote

The second chainplate is only approx 2 inches forward of the rear chainplate. As you said i assume this is an adapttion from a previous owner. I don't think this will cause me problems so i will leave the chainplate in place and use this, would you agree?

If it's as close as that then rather than a mast lowering "improvement" it sounds like a bottle screw "improvement".

SeaHawks were designed to be used with simple lanyard to secure the shrouds. The chainplate provided is not designed to secure two line leading off at different angles. If you insist on using expensive metalwork instead of cheap and simple line then you need to provide a second chainplate or some other method that will do the job. There are some solutions shown at:
http://www.seahawk17.org.uk/boatshed/shrouds.htm
Providing your second chainplate is fixed through the reinforcement in the cabin wall then I would not see a reason for abandoning it if you plan to use exotic metalwork at the bottom of the shrouds.

With the placed fairleads and cleats from the pictures it appears mine is a pyecraft seahawk. Thanks for the link, I did have a look through the site but couldn't find that particular page.

The search box at the top of each page on the menu bar is usually pretty good at finding things - but it does depend on using the terms I chose to use, of course!